Hades

Chapter fourteen - When Life Brings You Death

I ran to the first doctor I saw when I came out of my room.

"Where is my mother!?" I screamed at him.

He was a young man in his early thirties with black curly hair and a shocked expression on his face.

"Answer me!" I screamed at him. I knew whatever happened to her wasn't his fault, but I needed to let go of all the feelings that were bottled up inside of me. Unfortunately, the thing I let go on, was the poor young doctor.

Another nurse saw me trying to strangle the man and gently but firmly told me, "Miss, let go of the doctor."

I gave the doctor one last long, hard glare, then released his shirt.

"Miss, what can I do for you?" The nurse asked as she walked up to me.

I was too busy trying to calm my emotions to answer her.

"I know you are stressed, but strangling doctors is not the answer," the young doctor told me. "I'll help you if you promise me not to try and kill me again."

After about five minutes, I finally managed to tell the doctor and the nurse I was looking for my mother. I also told them about how I woke up and suddenly she was gone.

"She could possibly be in the E.R section," the nurse told me calmly. "Something could have happened and the doctors had to come in, but you could've slept right through it. I'll see if I can find some information. What is your mother's name?"

"Jennifer Turner," I told her.

She promised to come right back, as she would find out where my mother could possibly be.

I was silently cursing Hades with all my might when my father came through the elevator doors with Jon and Ron. He was also wheeling around a wheelchair and in it, sat my mother. She couldn't really move, but at least she was alive. I breathed a sigh of relief.

"Mum! Dad!" I exclaimed. I couldn't think of anything else to say after that but, "Jon! Ron!"

I rushed up to them, crouched down and gave my two little brothers a hug. I looked up to my mother. She gave me as much of a smile as she could give me.

"I see you've found your mother," the nurse who had helped me before said as she walked up to me.

"Yeah," I looked to my mother. "I thought...something had happened to you."

"Well, I'd better get back to work," The nurse told me. "I'm glad you've found her."

I tried to give the kind nurse a smile as she walked away.

"Sorry honey," My father said to me. "We were going to wake you up but you barely had any sleep the past week. We came back to get you though."

"We're going to get ice-cream!" Jon exclaimed.

"Would you like to come?" Ron asked.

***

I ordered a vanilla soft cone to eat from the hospital cafe. I didn't realize how hungry I was until I devoured the cold dessert in seconds. I then decided to order something more filling, a delicous cheese burger.

My mother couldn't feed herself anymore so my father and I took turns spoon feeding her. We returned my mother to her room and my father told me to go home and rest. I told him I didn't need it, but he insisted and also asked me to take Jon and Ron with me. I realised then he needed time alone with mum. Time that was definitely running out.

***

I had a dreamless sleep that night. Something which I had not been getting as of the late. I woke up the next morning with my hair looking like a tornado had recently whipped through it. Getting ready for school, I found the White Rose on my desk that Hades had once given to me. Picking it up with a sigh, I wondered what to do with the Rose. What to do with Hades. He had toyed with our friendship and as afraid as I was to think it, he had also played with the strings of my heart. Then again, he didn't. All those times, he really seemed very genuine. Putting the Rose back on my desk, I left the house and walked to the train station.

My mother passed on a Wednesday. I wasn't there when it happened. Nobody was. I would like to think she died peacefully, with her last thoughts of happiness.

The funeral was held a day after. It was a beautiful sunny day. Before I would have thought the weather was mocking her. But I didn't feel that anymore. I felt like it was reflecting her personality.

"Now we will call her daughter, Clarice, to give a speech for us," The pastor said.

Walking up the stage,  I noticed that I hadn't cried once since her death. Was it cynical? Was I incapable of emotions? I cleared my throat. 

"Today, we are acknowledging the death of someone," My voice seemed to echo in the open space. It was as if everyone was silent just to hear what I was saying. Except, I had nothing to say. My thoughts were empty, I, was empty.

I looked up and for once, I wished for Hades to be there. To help me. But he wasn't. It didn't matter. This was something that had to be done alone. I took a deep breath.

"Today, we are acknowledging someone because they have died," I looked to the audience. "Today, Jennifer Turner, my mother, my brother's mother, and my father's wife has died. She loved, and was loved. I remembered that she would always make me cookies when I was doing my homework. It's a wonder how I'm not hugely obese, cause damn, those cookies were good."

A soft laugh from the audience. So that was how I had to play my cards. I remembered reading in the a book by John Green once that funerals were for the living not the dead. So, I continued with the memories I had of her.

"So," I concluded. "May we never forget Jennifer Turner, a brilliant woman, who just had to go because it was her time."

I stepped off the podium, and out of the corner of my eye, I saw him, leaning against a tombstone. He had heard the entire speech.